After months without a secretary of agriculture, the Senate voted 87 to 11 on Monday evening to confirm former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue to the post. Perdue’s cousin, Senator David Perdue (R-GA) presided over the Senate for the vote. On Tuesday, Perdue was sworn in by fellow Georgian and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Clarence Thomas as the 31st secretary of agriculture.
“The only legacy that I seek is the only one that any grandparent or parent seeks–to be good stewards, and to hand off our nation, our home, our fields, our forests, and our farms to the next generation in better shape that we found it,” Perdue said after taking the oath of office. “Making sure that Americans who make their livelihoods in the agricultural industry have the ability to thrive will be one of my top priorities. I am committed to serving the customers of USDA, and I will be an unapologetic advocate for American Agriculture,” he said
Perdue, 70, takes the helm at USDA with extensive agricultural expertise. He was born into a dairy family farm in Bonaire, Georgia. He has a doctorate in veterinary medicine from the University of Georgia and has had an ownership stake in fertilizer businesses, grain elevators, and in an agricultural trucking company, as well as serving as Governor of Georgia. Perdue has said, to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest, he will now have his family wealth preservation trust restructured so that he will have no say in its investments.
The much-delayed appointment, which was the last cabinet post announced a day before President Trump’s January 20 inauguration, has some expressing concern that President Trump has made a low priority of the rural and farm interests .
Perdue takes office since the president released a proposed 2018 budget blueprint that would reduce the USDA budget by $4.7 billion, or 21 percent, over this year’s funding levels while eliminating water and wastewater loan programs, the department’s statistical capabilities and foreign food aid.
